Deke's Techniques #16: Turning a photo into an ink drawing

For this week’s free Photoshop technique, lynda.com author Deke McClelland takes an ordinary photo, applies several filters (two of which he claims to never use under any other circumstances), and transforms the photo into an ink drawing. With the application of Gaussian Blur, Smart Blur, High Pass, Notepaper, and yet more Gaussian blur, you’ll learn how to start with a photo like the one on the left below and apply a pen-and-paper drawing effect like that on the right.

I have to admit, I find these creative transformations to be my favorite flavor of Technique of Deke. I start wanting to apply these treatments to random photos of my friends and family. And for more fun and creative possiblity, this week lynda.com members have an exclusive video awaiting them in the Online Training Libary® in which Deke takes the very same photo and applies a pencil drawing effect. Here’s a preview of what you’ll see:

I’m particularly charmed by the way Deke thinks in the language of Photoshop filters in order to create recipes for final outcomes that have nothing ostensibly to do with the random ingredients he throws in the mix, but still come together to create a comprehensive effect in the end.

What sorts of effect (paradoxically created from obscure filters or otherwise) would you like to see Deke apply his Photoshop-brain to in future episodes?